Suns at Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are trying to avoid any slump heading into the All-Star break and will attempt to pull off their fourth win in five games when they host the Phoenix Suns on Monday. The Western Conference-leading Lakers needed a late push to turn away the NBA-worst Golden State Warriors on the road Saturday and have a showdown at Denver coming up on Wednesday before the break.
Los Angeles allowed the Warriors to shoot 51.7 percent from the floor and committed 24 turnovers on Saturday and was just happy to come away with the victory. "Even when we don't play our best and even though we had some slippage today, you can always appreciate being able to get a win in this league, which is always difficult," Lakers superstar LeBron James told reporters. "But we're a veteran ballclub and we know we didn't play our best basketball. It starts with me, having seven turnovers, and it trickled down to everybody else." The Suns are trying to join the fight for a playoff spot in the West but are struggling to gain any traction with losses in five of the last six contests. Phoenix posted an impressive 127-91 victory over the Houston Rockets to end a four-game slide on Friday but ran out of gas in the second half of the back-to-back and fell 117-108 to the Nuggets on Saturday.
TIME: 10:30 p.m. ET. TV: NBA TV, FS Arizona, Spectrum SportsNet, Sportsnet One
ABOUT THE SUNS (21-32): Phoenix coach Monty Williams pushed his starters on the second night of the back-to-back, playing each at least 32 minutes while giving small forward Kelly Oubre Jr. and center Deandre Ayton 42 minutes apiece. "After a back-to-back, I think we came with the right energy and the right approach to today's game, just fell a little short," Suns guard Devin Booker told reporters. "Guys are playing big minutes. Guys are fighting out there, putting their bodies on the line (and) that’s what I'm proud of." Ayton didn't seem to mind the big minutes and led the team with 28 points and 19 rebounds in the setback while Booker scored 21 points on 5-of-16 shooting in 37 minutes.
ABOUT THE LAKERS (39-12): James delivered 22 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in addition to his seven turnovers on Saturday and is guiding a team that did not make any major changes at the trade deadline, though Los Angeles is expected to be active in the buyout market. The Lakers' big acquisition came over the summer, and All-Star forward Anthony Davis continues to live up to expectations while collecting 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting and 10 rebounds on Saturday - his second straight double-double and the sixth consecutive game in which he shot 50 percent or better from the floor. Davis is averaging 26.5 points and 9.2 boards while James posts 25 points, a league-best 10.8 assists and 7.7 rebounds.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Lakers SG Avery Bradley scored a season-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting Saturday.
2. Suns PF Dario Saric (ankle) sat out the last five games and remains day-to-day.
3. Los Angeles took each of the first two meetings this season, including a 117-107 home triumph on Jan. 1.